Tag Archives: biomechanics

Terror Birds – getting inside the head of a predator using CT analysis and biomechanical modeling

Posted on August 23, 2010 by admin| Leave a comment

Clips from the National Geographic channel program “Prehistoric Predator: Terror Bird”, which premiered 28 April 2009. The clip features WitmerLab research on the skull, brain endocast, and inner ear of the phorusrhacids Andalgalornis and Psilopterus based on CT scanning. Rendered in Amira and QuickTime by Ryan Ridgely. Bob Chandler (GCSU), who is collaborating with Witmer on aspects of terror bird paleobiology, visited for the shoot. Also featured is Steve Wroe (UNSW), who used the WitmerLab CT scan data to generate biomechanical simulations of terror bird feeding strategies using finite-element modeling. For more like this, please visit www.ohio.edu and wwww.facebook.com

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Terror Bird – animation of the bite of Andalgalornis based on PLoS ONE research

Posted on August 21, 2010 by admin| 13 Comments

Research on the anatomy and feeding mechanics of extinct phorusrhacids (“terror birds”) was published in an article in PLoS ONE (bit.ly The animation of the skull of the terror bird Andalgalornis shows CT-scan slices going through the skull (revealing the source data for much of the research), as well as a series of powerful downward bites followed by pulling back of the skull by the neck. Andalgalornis was an extinct, 4.5-feet-tall, flightless predatory bird found as 6-million-year-old fossils in northwestern Argentina. Movie by Ryan Ridgely & Lawrence Witmer, Courtesy of WitmerLab at Ohio University. For more on terror birds and the PLoS ONE article, please visit www.ohio.edu For more info and content, please visit www.facebook.com

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